Presented here is the full text of the Declaration of Independence of Azawad, originally posted in French to the website of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) on April 6, 2012, and translated into English by Evan Centanni of Political Geography Now. The MNLA is a Tuareg-led rebel group which has recently achieved control of the northern part of Mali in West Africa. For a history of the 2012 Tuareg rebellion in Mali, view all Mali posts on Political Geography Now.

By the voice of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad after consultation with:

The Executive Committee,

The Revolutionary Council,

The Advisory Council,

The Staff of the Liberation Army,

The regional bureaus

Recalling the principles of international law and the principle international legal instruments governing the right of peoples to self-determination, particularly Articles 1 and 55 of the United Nations Charter, and the relevant provisions of the international Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;

Considering the will expressed explicitly in the letter dated 30 May, 1958, addressed to the French president by the notables, spiritual leaders of all constituent parts of AZAWAD;

Considering that in 1960, on the occasion of the granting of independence to West African peoples, France attached AZAWAD without its consent to the Malian state that France had just created;

Recalling the massacres, the atrocities and abasement, the plundering and genocide of 1963, 1990, 2006, 2010 and 2012, which targeted exclusively the people of AZAWAD up until 1 April 2012;

Recalling the inhumane conduct of Mali, which utilized the various droughts (1967, 1973, 1984, 2010, etc.) to eradicate our people by devastation even as it sought and obtained generous humanitarian support;

Considering the accumulation of more than 50 years of bad governance, of corruption and of military-political-financial collusion, threatening the existence of the people of AZAWAD and imperiling regional stability and international peace;

Considering the complete liberation of the territory of AZAWAD;

Proclaim irrevocably the INDEPENDENT STATE of AZAWAD starting from this day, Friday, 6 April, 2012.

WE DECLARE:

Recognition of existing borders with neighboring states, and their inviolability;

Full adherence to the UN Charter;

The firm commitment of the MNLA to create conditions for lasting peace, to introduce the institutional foundations of the state based on a democratic constitution for independent Azawad.

The Executive Committee of the MNLA invites the entire international community in a spirit of justice and peace to recognize without delay the independent state of AZAWAD.

The Executive Committee of the MNLA, until the establishment of the Authority of the Territory of AZAWAD, will continue to manage the entirety of the territory.